We had a guest lecturer today who came to speak to our ICT specialist group about the ‘future of the internet’. When he first raised the question about what we think the future of the internet will involve, I immediately thought of just more of the same technology that is around now; just improved and capable of doing more. However, the lecturer explained that it will most probably include things which we haven’t even thought of yet, things that we wouldn’t even consider being done by something on the internet.
He went into depth talking about wearable technology like the
Apple Watch and FitBit’s; something which I have purchased and really enjoy using. One of the wearable technologies mentioned was the Google glasses, something which I haven’t yet had a chance to have a go with but am extremely eager and excited to!
Dr. Peter Harrop carried out some research which focused on the increase in popularity of wearable technologies and predicts that by 2025 the industry will create $70 bilion dollars, compared to the $20 billion made in 2015. With this exciting prediction, I feel that it is important to try and implement this into schools and help to make children familiar with and confident with using the new technologies available. Dr. Harrop mentions how these new technologies help to merge medical, fitness and well-being. As a result of this I feel that there are great opportunities to use this technology in curriculum areas like Science and PE.
The guest lecturer also discussed the use of an app called ‘If This Then That‘ (IFTTT). This was an app which I previously had not heard about. However the idea of automatically carrying out simple processes based on coding was very interesting to me. IFTTT is an app which connects together different apps. Some examples of how the app can be used are shown below.
I created a recipe where if I get tagged in a photo on Facebook, it will automatically save it onto my phone. I really enjoyed playing around with this app and am interested to see how a technology similar to this could be used in schools.
Something which I thought could work well is similar to IFTTT but it would work as a registration tool for pupils in school. Every child could have a name tag or button which is unique and individual to them, and when there button or badge in placed in a specific place they are marked in, or if they aren’t marked in by a certain time then they will be marked as absent. Simple technologies like this could be put in place throughout schools and I feel that they would dramatically increase the amount of time a teacher has in registration time to maybe listen to children read.
Ellie George 
You actually used IFTTT? It sounded interesting, but I found myself unable to think of situations where it would save me much time. Perhaps I just need to be more engaged in my social medias – or I could just be lacking in imagination.
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